Nightmares
by Kodachrome
Summary: Well, here I go with another Yamato fic! Well, it's not entirely about him, but he is the main character. Here's the rundown, two new evil digimon mysteriously appear in the real world, will the dd be able to stop them from wreaking utter chaos? Read to f
1. Prologue

The tall man was carrying a briefcase in one hand and his coat in the other

Author's note: Not sure how many chapters this one'll be, but to me it seems pretty spread out. Anyways, here's the prologue. Hope you enjoy. Oh, btw, I've discovered that I really like to write Matt experiencing a lot of angst. So be prepared. *grins evilly* 

Oh and also, for most of you that don't know, I tend to only write about season 01, Matt being my prime objective. Don't get me wrong, the second season had its moments, but I think the first was the best!

Disclaimer: Ya already know I don't own this stuff.

Rating: PG for violence (whatever your definition of the word may be).

Prologue

Yamato Ishida's father carried his briefcase in one hand and his coat in the other.It was well past midnight when he had arrived, and the signs of tiredness and exhaustion were already present on his face.He yawned as he put his key in the door.Anymore late nights like this, he thought, and he'd be dead within the week.

He was very cautious and quiet upon entering the house; he did not want to wake his eldest son.He felt bad for not being around much to watch his son grow up, but the bills needed to get paid, and when his job called he had to answer.His son was doing alright though, he had good friends and was turning out to be an excellent musician, he thought.

He made his way down the hall towards his room, to drop off the few articles he carried.He really felt bad about tonight though, tonight they were supposed to do something together.Usually no matter what, they set a side one night each week to spend time together.This was that night, but he had called and told Matt that he would be running late.He had hoped that it wouldn't be too much of a disappointment.

When he went to check in Matt's room, he realized his son was not there.Not wanting to over react he started to search the other rooms of the house, until he finally found the blonde boy asleep on the couch, remote control in hand.Poor guy, he thought, I really need to make this up to him.

He picked his son up and brought him into his bedroom, where he laid him on the bed and covered him with a blanket.

"I promise I'll make this up to you," he whispered as he quietly shut the door behind him.

When Matt woke up he realized that there was smoke everywhere.He covered his mouth and began coughing as he tried to reach the door to his bedroom.At first touch he noticed it was very hot and he drew his hand back instantly.He immediately came to the conclusion that the house was on fire.

"DAD!!" he called out.

He was unsure if his father had made it home yet or not, but was determined to find him.Throwing caution to the wind, he ripped the door open and crawled on his stomach out the door and towards his father's room, as he watched the flames and smoke rise to the ceiling.

Just as he was about to open the door to his father's room, it burst into flames, which threw him back against the wall.Matt shook his head in order to clear it, and peered into the bedroom.Everything was on fire.He shielded his eyes from the heat, which started to become unbearable.

Perhaps his father had not made it home yet, but as he focused in closer he saw the charred remains of his dad's briefcase in the doorway to the closet, or what was left of the closet.

"NO!!" Matt cried, tears welling up in his eyes, "This can't be happening!"

All he knew now was that he had to get out of there, and fast before the entire building collapsed under the flames.The smoke stung his eyes, and he could barely see what was in front of him.He made his way to what he perceived to be an exit, the fire escape.Before he could take another step a flaming beam came crashing down in front of him.He jumped back alarmed.The inhalation of smoke began to disorient him.He tried to think of another way out, but before he could come to any decision another beam came crashing down, pinning him to the floor.

"Aaauugghh!" he cried as the splintering wood cut into him.He couldn't move now.All was lost he thought, and started crying out for help, but his cries went unanswered.Matt lay on his back coughing and choking on the smoke.It would take a miracle now.He wished Gabumon were there, he wished his dad were there.His thoughts became no more, when he looked up and saw a shower of flaming debris about to land on him.

"NOOOOOO!!!" he cried.

Matt flew up out of his bed, sweating profusely and gasping for air.His eyes were wide with fear, until he snapped out of it and gazed around his darkened room.

"A….a..n-nightmare," was all he managed to say amid his trembling.

He sat upright in his bed and pulled his knees to his chin.He held on tightly, trying to get the shaking to stop.He could have sworn he heard some light giggling, but dismissed it as being a hallucination brought on by his nightmare.

He had to be sure though, so he got up and crept down the hall barefoot.His dad must be home, he thought, because he fell asleep on the couch and woke up in his room.He slowly opened the door to his dad's room and poked his head in, relieved to see the still form of his father lying asleep in his bed.

Matt closed his eyes and sighed in relief.He shut the door and made his way to the kitchen.He needed a glass of milk to calm his nerves.That's when he swore he heard the giggling again.

"Come on man," he said to himself, "Snap out of it, it was just a stupid dream."

Once he got his drink, he went back to his bedroom to try and get back to sleep.However, he was unaware of the pair of red glowing eyes watching him.They slowly disappeared as he drifted off to sleep.This time his dreams were left undisturbed by any nightmares and he slept soundly the rest of the night.

The next morning Joe was up with the sun.He had a very busy day ahead of him, what with all the studying he had to do before school started in the fall.

"Is that all you do is study now?" his brother asked as he poured a bowl of cereal.

"I like to get a head start on these things you know, the early bird catches the worm I always say." he retorted.

"Man, you're just a kid, how boring." he shook his head and laughed at his younger brother. "Why don't you go and hang out with your friends today, it is summer vacation after all."

"Well," Joe pondered, "I guess it couldn't hurt to see what the gang is up to these days."

He threw his notebooks into his backpack and headed out the door.

"Maybe I'll drop by Izzy's house and see what he's up to and go from there."

"As long as you take a break from those books!" his brother called after him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izzy was also up with the sun, furiously typing away on his laptop computer.He was pouring over more data he had found from the digital world.Gennai constantly emailed him with new things and he wanted to collaborate all the information into one software program.

"Izzy honey?" his mom cracked the door to his room open.

"Yeah mom?" he said in between typing.

"Joe's here."

"Oh send him in, thanks mom!" he said cheerfully.

"You can come in Joe," he heard his mother say off in the distance.

"Hey Izzy, remember me?" Joe said.

"Of course I remember you Joe."

"Well, it's been a couple of weeks and I…" Joe started to ramble.

"Have a seat Joe." Izzy motioned to a chair next to his desk.

"Oh, okay thanks. What are you doing?" he asked as he sat down.

"I'm compiling all this information Gennai sent me from the digital world.It's a big task and a lot of work is involved, but it's very interesting stuff."

"Oh," Joe said as he gaped at the computer screen. "Have you heard from Tentomon or Gomamon in a while? I kinda miss them you know."

"Actually, I haven't, but I bet Gennai could get a hold of them, if you wanted to say hi."

"Well, not if it's too much trouble, I just figured, well Gomamon must be going crazy and all, it's hard to not be around me." he chuckled.

"Sure Joe, I'll ask Gennai right now." he said as he activated his email account.

"Wouldn't it be great if all the kids could say hi to their digimon?" Joe added.

"I suppose it would, we should call them up one of these days and have everyone come over."Izzy began.

"Why not today?" Joe asked.

"Hmm…" Izzy thought, "Not a bad idea Joe, why don't you call everyone and invite them over."

"Okay Izzy, you're the boss." Joe said with a smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Over here Tai!" Sora shouted as she ran up the field towards the goal.

"Comin' at ya!" Tai hollered as he zipped past a couple of other kids, skillfully kicking the ball in between their legs.

He launched the ball to Sora, who deflected it with her knee and bounced it off her head towards the ground where she belted it into the opposing team's net.The goalie never saw it coming.

"Yeah! Alright Sora! We won!!" Tai shouted in triumph.

"Yay Tai!"Kari shouted from the sidelines.Her and her friend T.K. jumped up and down enthusiastically, celebrating the victory.

"Thanks for inviting me Kari," T.K. said.

"Your welcome," Kari replied.

"I'm just sorry Matt couldn't be here, he said dad was making him do chores today."

"That doesn't sound like much fun." Kari added.

Tai and Sora ran over to where the two younger kids stood.

"Hey Kari, where's Mimi?I thought she said she'd be here?" Tai asked.

"She said her and her mom were going shopping today." Kari answered.

"Oh brother," Tai said as he slapped his forehead, "They'll be gone for hours."

"Hey!" Sora interjected, "We won! Let's go down to the mall and get some ice cream, we can probably meet Mimi there!"

"Good idea Sora!" Tai said.

"Let's go!" Kari shouted as she took off down the street with T.K. in tow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the mall, Mimi and her mother were going crazy, running in and out of the numerous shops.

"Look mom, how cute!" she squealed as she picked up a bright pink fuzzy cowboy hat.

"Oh it's adorable sweetie!" her mom replied.

They both looked at eachother, whipped out Mimi's dad's credit cards and yelled, "Charge it!" like Wilma and Betty from the Flintstones.

"I love mother/daughter day!" Mimi shrieked.

Across the crowded mall, Tai, Sora, T.K., and Kari were busy indulging themselves with ice cream sundaes, but Mimi's familiar squeals and shrieks were easily recognizable and it wasn't long before all five children met up with each other.

Mimi's cell phone rang a few minutes after their rendezvous.

"Oh hi Izzy!" Mimi chirped into the phone, "Yeah the others are here with me.You're going to do what?Oh that's great! We'll be there!" She hung up and turned to the other children.

"Hey guys, that was Izzy! He said that he would set it up with Gennai so we could say hi to our digimon!!"

"That's awesome!" Tai shouted.

"Let's get over there right now! My mom can give us a ride!" Mimi added, "I can't wait to talk to Palmon again!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile, as the other children made their way to Izzy's house, Matt was still at home finishing up his chores.

"That's that." he said as he pulled the last bit of laundry from the dryer and dumped it into the hamper. "Now all I gotta do is fold this stuff and I can go hang out with the other kids!"

As Matt was busy folding away, the same pair of red eyes that had watched him the night before peered out of the hall closet.

"This kid has to be one of those digi-destined!" he squeaked. "I will destroy him!What a more perfect plan than to pick them off one by one while they aren't in the digital world and don't have their lousy digimon to help them." he said trying to suppress his evil laughter.

This particular digimon was pitch black in color.He had long red talons, red eyes, and a pair of black bat wings.He carried a charcoal colored dream catcher around his neck and stood about four feet tall.His face was all distorted and looked nightmarishly horrible, but only the parts that could be seen from under the black mask he wore.His robe was the same fashion as the Grim Reaper's minus the scythe.He laughed devilishly as he threw the closet door open.

Matt had heard the loud thud of the door hitting the wall. "What was that!?" he questioned in surprise.

Matt left the laundry room and made his way down the hall.As he rounded the corner he came face to face with the evil digimon.

"Y-you're a digimon!" Matt exclaimed completely shocked at the digimon's appearance.

"Are you the one they call Matt?" the evil digimon sneered, giving Matt the once over in order to size up his opponent.

"How do you know my name!?" Matt said, becoming extremely defensive.He didn't like the looks of this digimon and could tell he would be trouble.

"That's for me to know!" spat the dark digimon, "and now that I know who you are I can destroy you!"

With that the evil digimon began to approach the boy.

"Who are you!?" Matt yelled.

"I'm Maremon!" he proclaimed. "The dark digimon who possesses the power of altering dreams.My Nightmare Attack is a killer!" he smirked.

Matt knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat this digimon without Gabumon, so he did the first thing that came to mind and ran.

"Come back here you little twirp!" Maremon shouted.

All the while Matt ran, he tried to figure out how this digimon had got to the real world.Just as he was about to make his way out the front door something wrapped itself around his neck and pulled him from behind.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Maremon yelled.

Chains had formed out of his right arm and he used those to snare Matt.He jerked back on the chains, which sent the blonde boy flying backwards.Matt landed with a thud on the living room floor.His fingers dug into the chains that had begun to tighten around his neck, cutting off his air supply.He pulled on them, trying to free himself, but his attempts seemed to be futile.

"This is too easy," Maremon laughed.

Matt then saw his chance; he reached out to the coffee table and grabbed a vase full of flowers off of it.He flung the projectile at Maremon, who was busy laughing.The vase hit him upside the head, which surprised him and he released his grip on Matt.

"You little brat!" Maremon cried with venom in his voice. "I'll get you for that!"

Just as Matt whirled around to try his second attempt at escaping, he felt a stinging pain across his left arm as Maremon tore his red talons into the boy's shoulder.

"Auughhh!" Matt yelped in pain.

The digimon was now sitting on his chest.He was about to make a fatal blow by driving his talons into Matt's forehead, when the boy kicked him in the stomach, sending the dark digimon sprawling to the floor.Matt picked himself up and clutched his left shoulder.He ran out the front door of his apartment and down the hall towards the elevators.

"Come on!" he pleaded as he hit the buttons on the wall panel, hoping that his urgent pleas would speed up the elevator's progress somehow.

As soon as the doors opened, Matt flew into the elevator and slammed the door close button just as Maremon was inches away from the elevator doors.He hit the button for the lobby, and sighed in relief that he had so far escaped the evil digimon. Before Matt could get too comfortable the elevator lurched to a stop on the first floor knocking him off his feet.He looked up to see red talons tearing through the metal of the elevator roof.

"Uh oh," he said as he dove towards the elevator doors and wrenched them open.

The minute he got out he glanced down the hall in both directions, trying to devise an escape plan.To the left was a giant glass window that overlooked the street, and to the right were the stairs.Without hesitating, Matt raced down the hall towards the stairs.

Maremon was seething.When he finally managed to tear his way through the elevator ceiling, he teleported in front of Matt, blocking off his exit.

"What!?" Matt said in surprise.

Before he had time to react, Maremon threw his hands up in the air and created a large ball of red energy.

"Nightmare Attack!" he shouted, as the energy ball created a shock wave that sent Matt crashing through the huge window at the other end of the hall.

He wasn't wearing his gloves and the glass cut through his fingers and hands as he grabbed onto the shards that bordered the frame of the window.Large pieces of glass went flying into the streets and Matt dangled from the first floor window, as Maremon hovered over to finish the attack.

"Now digi-destined," he said, eyes glowing blood red, "you die."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izzy was tapping away furiously at the keyboard.His correspondence with Gennai was not as casual or friendly as he had anticipated.Gennai was warning them about two new dark forces that somehow escaped the digital world, and were out to seek vengeance on the digi-destined.

"The first one's name is Maremon." Izzy told Joe, who sat biting his fingernails.All he wanted to do was say hi to Gomamon, but no, it can never be as simple as that he thought.

"He controls people's dreams, or should I say nightmares.He carries a dark dream catcher around his neck that he uses to trap dreams…and other digimon."

Joe gulped. "Can he catch people with that thing too?"

Izzy's face twisted in despair, "I'm afraid so."

"We need to warn the other kids," Joe said.

"Luckily they're on their way here right now.I think this little bit of information is going to disappoint them though."Izzy continued. "I guess we'll be having a reunion with our digimon after all." he added.

"This isn't the kind of reunion I was hoping for." Joe said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

________________________________________________________________________

"I know!" T.K. shouted. "Let's go pick up my brother, so he can say hi to Gabumon!"

All the children had somehow piled into Mimi's mom's car and were now headed down the street.

"Okay," Mimi's mom agreed."I'm so happy this thing with those monsters are over now, I was so worried about you Mimi."

"Oh mom, it's okay," Mimi began, "we defeated the dark masters and everyone else that was causing damage to the digital world.Now there's nothing to worry about."

"I think you spoke too soon!" Tai shouted as they rounded the corner to Matt's apartment complex.

"Is that my brother!?" T.K. screamed and pointed to the boy dangling out of the first story window of the building.

"It is!!" Tai confirmed as Mimi's mom slammed on the brakes, and the car screeched to a stop.

"We have to help him Tai!" Kari shouted.

"Let's go!" Tai yelled as all the kids piled out of the car.

"Not again!" Mimi's mom wailed.

The children ran to the spot just below where Matt was hanging.

"What do we do now!?" T.K. cried.

"Hang on Matt!We're coming!" Tai yelled up to his friend.

Matt glanced down at the street to see his brother and his friends standing just feet below him.

"Hurry up, I don't think he's going to wait!" Matt yelled

Maremon poked his head out the window, "Ahh, more digi-destined. Perfect." he smiled maliciously.

"We need something to catch him with!" Tai yelled.

"My mom has a picnic blanket in the trunk!" Mimi suggested.

"Let's get it!" Tai said as he ran for the car.

All the kids assembled right below Matt and each held a corner of the blanket.

"Okay Matt, when I say so, let go of the window sill!" Tai shouted.

"Like I have a choice!" Matt yelled back as his fingers began to slip from the sill.It was agonizing pain, because the broken glass continued to dig into his hands.

"Okay everyone, hold on tight," Tai commanded, he glanced up at his friend, "Alright Matt! Now!!"

Matt propelled himself backwards and time seemed to stand still as he began his descent.Just when he thought he might be in the clear, Maremon's chains wrapped around his neck again.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" Maremon sneered.

"Maaattttttt!!" T.K. cried.

Matt sat there dangling from the metal noose.He had to get free somehow before his own weight broke his neck.The fact that he could barely breath was not helping the matter.Just when things looked their grimmest another digimon appeared on the scene.

He was more gruesome than the last.

"Fearmon!" Maremon shouted angrily. "What are you doing here!?"

"I have come to destroy the digi-destined!" the other digimon replied.

This one had a black cape and no physical body.He had long, spindly arms with giant hands, and emerald talons.His eyes glowed red as well, but his face was merely a black ethereal cloud, much like the rest of his body.He wore a black hood that covered his head.

Luckily for Matt, Maremon's attention was diverted, and he released his hold on the young boy's throat.Matt fell conveniently onto the blanket his friends had outstretched.T.K. immediately dove at the boy when he reached the ground.

"Oh Matt, I'm so glad you're okay!" he cried. Then he took a better look at his brother. "Wait a minute Matt, you're not okay, what happened to your arm!?"

He reached down and grabbed Matt's hands. "And your hands!?"

"It's nothing T.K., let's just get out of here, while those two goons are busy arguing!" Matt said.

Everyone piled back into the car and headed over to Izzy's house to report their new findings.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wow!" Izzy exclaimed, "Maremon did this!?"The boy asked as he examined Matt's wounds.

Matt clenched his teeth, as Izzy's mom poured iodine on the cuts on his hands and fingers.She had already bandaged up his arm, which had stopped bleeding, but was very sore.

"Well, it wasn't a Nomamon!" Matt spat sarcastically trying to fight back crying out in pain.

"Easy Matt, he was just wondering." Joe commented.

"Sorry," Matt said with a remorseful look.

"It's okay Matt, I understand," Izzy said. "Well then, I guess there's no need to tell you about Maremon and Fearmon since you apparently have already met." Izzy added.

"Does this mean we get to go back to the digital world?" Kari asked.

"Most definitely," Izzy replied.

"Oh boy, that mean old digimon won't know what hit him when I get Angemon on him!" T.K. began, "No one hurts my brother and gets away with it!"

"Settle down there squirt, I'm alright," Matt assured him.

"At least we'll get to see our digimon again." Tai said, trying to sound optimistic.

Izzy's mom and Mimi's mom looked at eachother and sighed hopelessly.

"You children are not leaving again!?" they both wailed.

"I'm afraid so mom," Izzy said."We need our digimon to fight these new evil digimon."

"Just be careful!" Mimi's mom cried, giving her a big hug.

"Let's go you guys!" Tai hollered.

"Alright, Gennai's setting it up right now!" Izzy said as the computer monitor began to glow bright yellow.

Mimi and Izzy's moms just watched as the children disappeared off into the digital world.

"I hope they'll be okay," Mimi's mom sobbed.

"I'm sure they will, they've done this before, remember?" Izzy's mom reassured.

To be continued…

Closing Note: Wow! This is actually the very first Digimon fic I ever wrote. Since not very many people reviewed my last fic, I figured they didn't like it much. I'm still going to finish it, but I thought I'd post this one to see if anyone takes an interest in it. Please R+R!!! I'll post the next chapter if I can get at least one review. =) Also, being as this was the first fic I ever wrote, I felt it needed more work with sentence structure and stuff like that, so if it doesn't seem as well written as my last few stories, it's cuz it was my first and that'll be my excuse. lol.


	2. Chapter One

Author's note: This kicks off right where the prologue ends

Author's note: This kicks off right where the prologue ends. And since I already slapped a disclaimer on the prologue, I do not feel it is necessary to have one on each chapter.

Rating: G, nothing too bad here.

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"Is everyone alright?" Tai said as he dusted himself off.

"A little worse for the wear, but I should be okay." Matt replied attempting to rub his sore arm with his equally sore hands.

"I'm alright," said Joe.

"Me too," added T.K.

"Everyone else seems to be intact." Sora speculated.

"Good, then let's go find our digimon, so we can return to the real world and stop those evil digi-dorks." Tai shouted.

"Mimi?!" 

A voice could be heard off in the distance.

"Mimi it's really you!!" It was Palmon followed by a few other familiar digimon.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled.

"And Patomon!" T.K. squealed in delight.

"Where's Gomamon?" Joe asked scratching his head.

"Right here Joe, did ya miss me?!" Gomamon called as he launched himself at his best friend.

Augumon, Tentomon, Biyomon, and Gatomon were not far behind.Everyone enjoyed the little reunion, but after the pleasantries, Tai decided that it was time to get down to business.

"Listen up everyone, we're going to need your help in the real world." he began.

"Matt, what happened to your arm and your hands!?" Gabumon interrupted.

"That's what I was about to get to!" Tai said waving his hands in the air for dramatic affect.

"Oh, sorry Tai, continue." Gabumon apologized.

"There's a new threat to us digi-destined.There are two new evil digimon after us.Maremon and Fearmon."

"I've heard of them," Tentomon stated, "They're bad news. What do they want with you guys Tai?"

"Izzy heard from Gennai, that they want revenge against us for destroying the dark masters."

"Well, we won't let them do anything to harm you!" Patomon insisted from atop T.K.'s head.

"I think you're a little too late for that Patomon," Augumon mentioned, "just look at Matt."

"I'll thrash that no-good Maremon!" Gabumon threatened.

"Well, if we're going to do any kind of thrashing, don't you think we should get back to the real world?" Kari suggested.

"She's right," Sora admitted, "We aren't doing much sitting around here talking."

"Come on you guys let's go!" Mimi shouted, "I have a hair appointment tomorrow that I don't want to miss!"

Izzy began to type on his laptop, "Hang on a sec guys while I get Gennai to re-open the digi-port."

"Those digi-dweebs won't know what hit them when I get a hold of them!" Gatomon bragged, "No one's going to hurt Kari while I'm around."

"Thanks Gatomon!" Kari smiled.

The digital gateway opened and the eight children and their digimon entered.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, two very angry and very evil digimon sat brooding at eachother.

"This is all your fault Maremon, you let them get away!" Fearmon shrieked.

"If it hadn't been for you, I would have destroyed that one child, and we'd have one less digi-destined to worry about!" Maremon retorted.

"Next time, stick to the plan!"

"What plan? We were just supposed to go in and annihilate them!"

"You fool!In order to successfully beat these kids we need to separate and take them down one by one. They're too powerful as a team!" Fearmon hissed.

"But now they'll have their digimon!" Maremon whined.

"And who's fault is that!?We could have pulled this off before they even had time to get their digimon!"

"We can still do this!I'm much more powerful than any lone ultimate digimon, remember, I was created by darkness!" Maremon boasted.

"Aren't you forgetting that I am too! That's why we need to single them out!" Fearmon rolled his eyes in exasperation. "We'll strike again tonight! While they're asleep!"

Maremon rubbed his hands together and smiled, "Oh, my favorite time of day." He laughed, and they both began to cackle incessantly.

"Tai we've been out all day, and there still hasn't been any sign of these evil digimon, I'm ready to call it quits for the day." Joe complained.

"I agree. We need our rest." Izzy added.

"It is getting rather late." Tentomon chimed in.

"My mom's going to flip if I'm not home before dark, and the sun's going down right now Tai!" T.K. said.

"Oh alright, but we meet back here first thing in the morning." Tai finally gave in, and the children parted ways with their digimon.

After a few blocks, Matt began to converse with Gabumon.

"It'll be nice to have you around again Gabumon.My dad usually doesn't get home until late, so you can keep me company." Matt smiled.

"That reminds me Matt, what's for dinner?"Gabumon blushed.

"Is that all you can think about?" Matt laughed.

"Sorry, I haven't had anything to eat in hours, I'm starving."

"Well, I'll fix you something when we get home."

"Yum! Sounds good already!" Gabumon smiled and rubbed his stomach.

"Look Izzy, it's already dark out!" Tentomon exclaimed. "I hope your mom won't be too upset."

"It's alright Tentomon, she knows you're with me. Wow am I hungry, it must be dinnertime."

"Dinner!?Walk faster Izzy!"

"Why, we're almost there?"

"It might be all gone by the time we get there!"

"Don't worry Tentomon, my mom usually cooks enough to feed an army of Nomamon."

"Well, I certainly hope you didn't invite them!"

Izzy just shook his head and laughed, and the two continued on their way.

Later on that night, after everyone had gone to sleep, the two evil digimon went in search of their victims.Fearmon went to look for Tai and Kari's house, because he figured that destroying the leader of the digi-destined would ensure their victory.He sent Maremon to finish the job he had started.

Fearmon stole into the Kamiya residence. He rampaged down the halls until he found the room he was looking for.Tai was sound asleep with Augumon at the foot of his bed.

"First I must get rid of this pest," he said as he made his way towards Augumon.A mystical smoke came from his fingertips and encircled Augumon.Fearmon clenched his fist and the smoke bound the orange dinosaur.He woke with a start.

"Tai—" he mumbled before the strange smoke wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from speaking.

Tai slowly opened his eyes and groggily looked over in Augumon's direction.

"Huh!" he cried as he realized what was going on.

Fearmon threw his hand up and a powerful force knocked Tai back into the wall.

"Augumon you have to digivolve!" Tai shouted.

"He can't do anything while I have him in my Nightshade Bind!" Fearmon laughed.

"Kari!" Tai screamed.

Tai's little sister burst into the room with Gatomon.

"Tai!" she called.

"Don't worry Kari, I'll help them," said Gatomon.

The feline digimon jumped into action.She rushed towards Fearmon, claws outstretched ready to strike, when his Terror Blast knocked her back into Tai.

The small feline looked up at Tai, "I want to digivolve Tai, but I can't do it in your house, I'd be too big. We need to take this fight outside!"

Augumon finally managed to break free of the Nightshade Bind and gave Fearmon a blast of his Pepper Breath, while he was distracted by Gatomon's attack.Fearmon easily deflected the attack and was now becoming more agitated.He swooped down and picked up Kari and carried her out the window.

"Gatomon! Tai! Help me!!" she cried as she was lifted into the night sky.

"I'm coming Kari!"Gatomon yelled as she jumped out of the window after her friend.

"Gatomon digivolve to…Angewomon!!!"

With that, the spunky feline digimon evolved into her champion angelic form and flew after the dark digimon that held Kari captive.

"Augumon go help!" Tai called out to his digimon.

"Right! Augumon digivolve to…Greymon!!!"

The dinosaur digimon began his pursuit on foot, while Angewomon took to the skies.The pursuit did not last long. Angewomon hit Fearmon with one of her Celestial Arrows, which caused him to drop Kari.Greymon caught her, and the evil digimon fled, until he had a better opportunity to attack.

"These guys seem pretty weak, compared to the Dark Masters," Angewomon commented before transforming back into Gatomon.

"Yeah," Greymon agreed as his body shrunk down into the form of Augumon. "It only took one hit with your Celestial Arrow to make him give up."

"We shouldn't underestimate these digimon though, we don't know what they're capable of." Tai added. "Kari, are you okay?"

"Yeah Tai, just a little shaken up is all." she replied.

"We should call the others and warn them, just in case Maremon or Fearmon decides to show up at their houses tonight." 

"Good idea," said Augumon as Tai reached for the phone.

Well, this is where I'm leaving off.If anyone likes it so far, review and I'll continue.


	3. Chapter Two

Author's note: Okay, *rubs hands together maliciously* this is by far my favorite chapter, why you ask

Author's note: Okay, *rubs hands together maliciously* this is by far my favorite chapter, why you ask? I don't know, I'm a twisted person.As always picks up where the last chapter ended. Why do I get the feeling that people are gonna hate me once they read this one??

Rating: It's a definite PG-13 if not worse.Little blood here and there, the usual stuff.For some reason I feel that this part has some very gory depictions. You have been warned!

Matt was fast asleep when the phone began to ring.Gabumon slowly stirred and opened his eyes.He rolled over and went back to sleep when he could no longer hear the noise.Maremon had cut the phone wires.

"Now to finish what I started digi-destined," he said as he made his way to Matt's room. "I will capture you in my dream catcher!" he yelled.

"Matt wake up!" Gabumon cried. "Maremon's back, you have to get out of here!"

Matt was startled by the sudden shouts from his digimon, he jumped up out of his bed and looked on in fear as he came face to face with Maremon a second time.

"Dream Catcher!" Maremon shouted as he threw a ball of blue light at Matt.The boy dodged the attack and slammed through the doorway as he made his way down the hall.Gabumon tried with futile efforts to defeat Maremon.He pummeled him with every attack he knew, and still nothing stopped the evil mon.

"I need to digivolve, this isn't working!" he shouted.

Maremon had Gabumon cornered, "Come back here boy, or your digimon is dust!" he threatened.

Matt heard him, and feared for Gabumon's safety.He just couldn't leave his friend.

"Don't hurt him!" Matt yelled to Maremon as he burst through the doorway.

"Yeah right! Just watch me!" he laughed as he was about to hit Gabumon with his Dream Catcher attack.

"NO!" Matt screamed as he dove in between Gabumon and the blue light.

"Matt stop!" Gabumon cried, but it was too late, the shiny, ethereal light swallowed him up.

"What have you done with Matt!?" Gabumon yelled.

"Muwahahahaha…"Maremon cackled, "I have captured him in my realm of nightmares." he said as he swung the charcoal colored dream catcher back and forth in front of Gabumon. "You'll never get him back now!!"

With that, the dark digimon disappeared into the thin air, leaving a very distraught Gabumon behind.

"No! I'll get you back Matt!" he shouted, tears welling up in his eyes. "I've failed, I've failed as a digimon.I couldn't protect my friend," he sobbed.Gabumon fell to his knees and began to cry.

Hours later, everyone was assembled at Izzy's house.

"Don't you think this is rather late," Mimi yawned.

"It's never too late to save my brother!" T.K. said heatedly.

"Come on Tai, we don't even know where they are!" Joe commented.

"But our digivices should lead us to Matt's location." he shot back.

"True," Izzy added, "But they could be anywhere."

"That's why we split up into teams!" Tai explained. "Me, Joe, and T.K. will search the North side of town.You, Mimi, Sora, and Kari will search the South side. This will each give us the advantage of land and air digimon, and Gomamon will give us the advantage of water, because the North side is closer to the waterfront."

"Good thinking Tai!" Sora commented, "Let's go everybody."

"What about me?" Gabumon said with a look of guilt and depression.

"Look Gabumon, it's not your fault, you did the best you could," Tai tried to reassure him.

"No Tai! Matt's gone and it is my fault!"

"If my brother were here, he wouldn't blame this on you, you tried Gabumon and that's all anyone can do." T.K. stated.

"You can come with us," Gomamon added, "we could use the extra set of eyes." he smiled, trying to cheer him up.

"Okay," Gabumon said, still feeling responsible for Matt's disappearance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Matt felt like he had been hit over the head with a ton of bricks.He sat up groggily, rubbed his head and looked around.This place he was in was like one he had never seen before.It reminded him of the many descriptions he had heard of Hell.He could hear shrieks and voices screaming in agony, and suddenly Matt felt very frightened.He wanted out of this place quick.

Where am I, he wondered, and as if his mind had been read, a voice answered.

"You are in the Realm of Nightmares young one." the voice boomed.

"Who are you!?" Matt shouted.

"That is none of your concern.You are here now, which means you are eternally condemned to this realm."

"What!?" Matt said alarmed.The fear in his expression could blatantly be seen now.

"But again, that is of the least of your concerns."

"What do you mean!?Then what should I be concerned about?"

"That!" the voice boomed.

Suddenly the ground began to shift and crumble.Molten lava began to shoot up through the cracks in the foundation.Matt darted this way and that trying to avoid being singed by the volcanic liquid.He kept running until he found a giant doorway.Matt reached up and turned the knob.The door opened and Matt ducked in just as the lava engulfed the entire room.Matt stepped forward after shutting the door, but found that there was nothing solid underneath him.He began to freefall into the darkness until he landed in something icy cold and wet.It was water.Instead of floating to the surface, the water seemed to pull him down.Matt struggled to swim to the surface, but the current would not allow him.Matt glanced around in panic, as he was slowly running out of air.Then he felt something painful bite into his leg. When he looked down he saw that a shark had latched onto his leg and was now dragging him deeper into the murky depths.The more he struggled, the more pain the shark inflicted upon him.His lungs were burning, crying out for oxygen.He could see red streaks of water rising above him and when he looked back down he realized that the blood oozing out of the fresh wound in his leg was causing it. 

Then for no reason at all, the scenery changed.Matt was no longer in the water, and the shark was nowhere to be seen.He just lay there soaking wet on what felt like cold pavement. When Matt inspected his leg he noticed that he was still bleeding.The little nicks and cuts on his hands from his previous run-in with Maremon were almost healed, but the gash he had received on his arm was starting to ache all over again.Matt then became aware of the loud squeaking that seemed to be getting closer and closer.When he sat up he saw hundreds of bats heading towards him.He pulled himself up and began to run for safety, but there was nowhere to hide!

The bats whizzed past his ears and kept biting him with their little fangs. It was not long before he had tiny cuts all over his arms, neck, and the rest of his body.The bats were swooping down and tugging at his hair.He tried to swat at them, but every time he did he received another painful bite.They then began to latch onto him and started sucking the blood from his open wounds. Matt screamed in terror and tried desperately to rip them off.In his panic he tripped over something and went flying into the air and finally landed in a bloody heap a few feet away.The bats were gone.

Matt cried out in pain.There were so many cuts and scrapes on him now; he thought he was going to bleed to death, despite how small they were.All was quiet.Matt wanted to see what he had tripped on since there didn't seem to be anything on the ground.He thought that maybe he had tripped over his own feet.He crawled over to the spot where he had felt his feet go out from under him.To his astonishment, there was something in the road.Matt threw his hand up over his mouth to keep from vomiting and his eyes went wide as he realized that what he was looking at was the decayed corpse of his little brother.

"Oh my God!" he cried.

Matt began to feel very sick to his stomach and turned his head to throw up.Everything became a blur to him.He didn't know where he was or what was going on.Matt sat there and started to hyperventilate.His heart began to beat faster.He had never experienced so much terror in his entire life.The blonde boy brought his hands up to his face and covered his eyes.He was trembling all over.Matt slumped onto his side and curled up into a little ball beside his dead brother.

"If I have to remain here forever," he whispered, "then I wish I were dead."

Matt continued to repeat the phrase over and over.He had lost his mind, lost his nerve, and was lying in a pool of his own blood.He felt like his soul had been swallowed up into an empty void. Physically he felt nothing; his entire body was numb.Then as he lay there, staring blankly out into the dark void, he felt his heart stop.His mouth hung open as he pushed air in and out of his lungs.How could this be, he thought. Matt clenched his hair and began to scream for all he was worth.He screamed until his throat was raw and hurt and then he just laid there silently watching the dark clouds around him circle and close in…

To be continued…

OMG! Was that wicked or what? I feel so evil!

Yikes! Didn't think I was capable of inflicting so much torture on one character.I know I'll probably get a lot of flames for this one, but I assure you things get better for Matt…maybe…*laughs maniacally*Next chapter's coming soon! =)


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Note: Well, one more chapter to go after this one

Author's Note:Well, one more chapter to go after this one.Is the suspense killing you yet? j/k. Sorry, this chapter's so short, I'm posting both it and the last chapter today since I have the time and because ff.net was down for so long, I figured I'd give everyone a break. 

Rating: PG, cartoon violence I guess, but nothing too bad.

"I don't see them anywhere," Birdramon said as she swooped in for another look.

"I haven't picked anything up on my digivice," Mimi said disappointed.

"Me neither," added Izzy.

Sora, Mimi, and Palmon road atop Birdramon, while Gatomon, Izzy, and Kari road on Kabuterimon.

"We have to keep trying," Kari encouraged, "Matt's depending on us!"

Elsewhere, the others were having similar luck.T.K. and Gabumon sat and stared down at the city from atop Greymon, as if the situation was hopeless.

"Don't worry guys!" Tai shouted, "We will find them!"

T.K. sighed, but immediately perked up when his digivice began to beep.

"Look Tai! I found something!" he cried with excitement.

Tai glanced down at his digivice as well."They're in the park!" he shouted to Joe.

"Look Fearmon! I caught that one digi-destined kid!" Maremon shouted.

"Only one?" Fearmon snapped.

"Well you didn't destroy any of them!" Maremon boasted.

He held up his dream catcher for Fearmon to see, "Look at how wonderfully miserable he is!He even wants to die!"

"Excellent, now we only have seven more to go." Fearmon chuckled.

"The best part is, we can sit and watch this one suffer for the rest of eternity!He can never escape there! Unless…" Maremon began.

"Unless what!?" Fearmon demanded."There cannot be any flaws in our plan!"

"Well, unless hope was restored to him.You see, his brother has the crest of hope, and in the Realm of Nightmares, hope is dead to him.That's why he is unable to escape."

"We'll just have to see to it that hope is never restored to him!"

Greymon's Nova Blast attack soared through the trees and knocked the two evil digimon to the ground.

"You're in for it now!" T.K. shouted.

"Oh no! What are they doing here!?" Maremon sneered.

Patomon changed into his champion form of Angemon and Gomamon digivolved to Ikkakumon.They continued to pound the dark digimon with their best attacks, but it took the combined effort of all three just to get rid of Fearmon.Now only Maremon remained.

"Not so fast digi-destined!I still have your little friend here!"Maremon proclaimed as he held the dream catcher up for them to see.

Joe, Tai, and T.K. all ran up to face Maremon and see if he was telling the truth.They looked into the dream catcher to see the horrible image of what Matt had become.

"What have you done to him!?" Tai shouted.

Maremon only laughed. "It's not what I have done to him, it's what he's done to himself!"

"Let my brother go!" T.K. shouted and tried to rush at Maremon, who easily side-stepped the young child.

"Don't make me laugh kid!"

"Give us our friend back Maremon, you're defeated!" Tai yelled.

"Oh I'm far from being defeated!" Maremon scoffed.

He raised his blue energy ball and was about to hit Tai with his Dream Catcher attack, when T.K. ran interference.

"You're not taking anymore of my friends!" T.K. shouted as the light engulfed him.

"T.K.!!!" Joe and Tai screamed simultaneously.

Angemon morphed back into Patomon and went charging at Maremon, who knocked him back with his Nightmare Attack.

"Now what are you going to do?" Maremon taunted.

Tai clenched his fists and tears began to stream down his face.A light began to glow around Greymon.

"Greymon digivolve to…War Greymon!!!"

At the same time Ikkakumon digivolved to Zudomon.

Maremon was about to prepare for battle when he glanced over his shoulder and saw four other champion digimon headed his way.They were Kabuterimon, Angewomon, Togemon, and Birdramon.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Maremon screamed as all the digimon let loose with their attacks.As he disintegrated into deleted information, all that was left was his dream catcher.

"We did it you guys!" Kari cheered.

But the celebration was cut short.None of the children knew how to get their two friends back.

"I'll ask Gennai if he knows how to work this thing," Izzy suggested, and began to type away on his laptop.

"I'm sorry children," Gennai explained, "But frankly, I have no idea how to work this thing.It is a tool of evil that only the dark digimon knew how to control."

Everyone bowed their head in disappointment.

"Thanks anyway Gennai," Izzy said before shutting down his laptop.

It seemed entirely hopeless to all the digi-destined, except for one…

Ack! Don't hurt me! I promise, last chapter is next! *ducks behind chair* Thanks to all of you who reviewed, I really appreciate the feedback! 


	5. Chapter Four

"Matt

Author's Note: My deepest apologies to everyone for not updating sooner! I kinda gave up for a while when ff.net was down, lotta stuff's been going on with me in the past couple weeks. Anywho, enough lame excuses, this is the last chapter, hope ya like it. I suck at endings. lol

By the way, much thanks to DigitalGirl562 for calling to my attention some minor details I accidentally left out in the first part of the story. What do you expect when I'm writing this stuff at midnight! lol. When Matt is falling out of the first story of his apartment building and Maremon snares him with his chains, I forgot to include that Matt is holding the chain around his neck, that's why his neck doesn't break while he's dangling there. Now that that's cleared up, enjoy the rest of the story! ^_^

"Matt! Matt!" T.K. called as he ran towards the image of his brother.

The decayed corpse disappeared and Matt sat upright, staring in amazement at his brother.

"Matt I came for you!" T.K. bellowed, as he skidded to a halt at his brother's feet.

"T.K.? Is it…is it really you?" Matt questioned skeptically.

"Sure is! Come on let's get out of here!" T.K. chirped.

Matt reached out his hand towards the younger boy.His face twisted in disbelief, as if he thought T.K. would magically turn in to something dreadful.T.K. wasted no time and flew into his brother's arms.

"I'm real!" he assured. "But you're in bad shape," he commented at the sight of Matt's bloody appearance. "Come on Matt, we need to get you out of here! Gabumon's waiting, and so are the other kids!"

"Gabumon?" Matt said, as if it were a distant memory, "The other kids…"

"Yeah let's go!" T.K. coaxed.

"I don't know whether to believe you or not," Matt stated. He looked down at his feet and blinked a few times.Then he placed his hand on his forehead, as if the pressure of deciding was just too much for him.

T.K. grabbed Matt's hand and placed it over his heart.

"Trust me big brother, I'm for real."

Matt could feel T.K.'s little heart beating.Now he was sure he wasn't a figment of his imagination, but something else still troubled him.

"You're real, but…am I still myself," he said looking at the cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over his body.There was dried up blood on his clothes, and places where fresh blood still bled freely.

Matt looked at his hand, it too was covered in blood.He placed it on his chest and waited.His eyes seemed to search the ground for something, and then he looked at T.K. and smiled.

"It's beating!" he cried, "My heart's beating again! Whatever it was that I was lacking, that was making me whole, must be back again!"

T.K. smiled, "Can we go now Matt?"

"Yeah little bro!" he paused, " but how do we get out of here?" he questioned as he gazed around in search of an exit.

"This way." T.K. said and took Matt's hand and pulled him over to a doorway.He opened it and something bright burst through the door and showered them in white light.T.K. led the way.

Gabumon stood there holding the dream catcher as tears rolled down his furry cheeks.

"I'm going to destroy this thing!" he cried, as he hoisted it into the air and wasabout to shatter it on the ground.

Then suddenly, a white light began to emerge from the dream catcher.It blinded everyone, and Gabumon had to turn away, dropping the dream catcher in the process.

When the light cleared, the dream catcher was gone, and in its place were Matt and T.K.

"Matt! T.K.!" Everyone cheered simultaneously.

"T.K.!" Patomon cried as he leapt into the arms of his digi-destined.

"Matt!" Gabumon sobbed, "I'm so glad you're back!"

The two were a welcome sight, that is until every stopped to realize that Matt was covered in blood.

"Gabumon…" Matt smiled weakly, "I'm sorry…" the words had time to escape just as Matt's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.

Gabumon ran towards his digi-destined and caught him just before he hit the ground.

"Matt! Matt speak to me!" Gabumon pleaded.

"Matt!" T.K. cried out in concern.

The other kids crowded around the still form of their friend.

"What do we do!?" Sora asked frantically.

"Matt!" Kari began to sob.

"He's not breathing!" Gabumon shouted.

Everyone called out to him, but Matt could no longer hear their pleas.

"It's not supposed to be like this!" Tai wailed. "Matt! You can't leave us!"

Suddenly, Tai's crest began to glow, then Kari's, then Mimi's, then Joe's, then everyone's! All the digimon shrank back to their primary form.

"What's going on?" T.K. asked.

"I don't know," Tai replied.

The light from their crests covered Matt completely, and when the light was gone the boy lay there.His cuts and scrapes were gone, along with all the blood.Tsunomon cautiously approached him.

"Matt?"

Matt's eyes slowly began to open and come into focus.He peered up to see the face of his digimon and then the faces of all his friends, and his little brother.Everyone had a befuddled look including Matt.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse.

"Perhaps I can answer that," Gennai's voice could now be heard, but he was nowhere in sight. " You see, the power of your crests has done a miraculous thing.I'm not sure quite how to explain it, because I'm a bit puzzled my self, but as you all know, the crests work in mysterious ways.It seems that all of you had the same feeling in your hearts. You did not want your friend to die, and because all of you wished the same thing, the crests used that power to heal your friend. Well children that's about all the light I can shed on this….until next time!"

Then the voice was gone.

"Well, I'm just glad that you're back Matt!" Tai exclaimed.

"Me too!" everyone agreed.

Matt smiled weakly, trying to maintain his cool image.

"Well you guys, we should be getting back to the digital world," said Koromon sadly, hating to break the spirit of the moment.

"Yeah, so we can digivolve back to rookie level," added Salomon.

"Look!" Mimi shouted, " The sun's coming up! I have to get home!" She gave her digimon one last hug, knowing in her heart that their paths would cross again.

"Me too," agreed Izzy as he smiled at his digimon, neither of them needing to express words.

"Well then, I guess our little adventure is over," Joe commented. "I have to admit, it was rather enlightening."

"Plus we kicked evil digi-butt!" T.K. cheered.

Matt stood looking off into the distance.

"Look you guys…uh thanks," he managed.

"We know how you feel Matt," Sora chimed.

"Yeah buddy! See ya uh…today I guess," Tai said looking at the sun coming up over the hills.

Matt smiled. "I want to thank you again too Tsunomon."

"But what did I do?"

"You…you and T.K. gave me hope."

Tsunomon smiled before he entered the digiport with the rest of the digimon.

"You're welcome Matt." He said as his voice faded off into the distance.

T.K. latched on to Matt's hand and the two smiled and waved goodbye to their digimon as the sun rose higher in the sky. Then all the children parted ways.Another evil defeated, they could now return to their normal lives, that is, until the next time the digital world would call on them.

The End.

What? You didn't honestly think I would kill off Matt, not my most favoritest character. Awwww….I just love happy endings! *cough* Don't you mean sappy endings?? *rolls eyes* Nobody asked you, so shut up! *looks up to see worried glances from everyone* Was I talking with myself again, I'm just gonna go now. *turns red from embarrassment and sneaks off* Oh yeah, *whispers* R+R.


End file.
